Yacon-4 Inch Pot

Yacon, another great food plant from South America Yacon is a perennial plant grown in the mid-elevation Andes for its crisp, sweet-tasting tuberous root. The texture and flavor have been described as a cross between a fresh apple or pear and watermelon, with maybe a hint of celery, and they are delicious eaten fresh. Yacon contains inulin, a type of sugar that your body can't digest. This helps keep the overall caloric content of the yacon low even though it has a sweet taste. The inulin content in yacon may provide a number of health benefits, including aiding in digestion and promoting beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract while inhibiting harmful organisms. Yacon can be grown throughout North America. In Northern areas plant after the last frost and harvest after the first few frosts have caused the tops to die back. While usable-sized tubers develop fairly early, they taste much sweeter after some frost. Yacon has two types of tubers, the edible storage tubers and propagation tubers that should be stored until spring.